Inmate To Go On Trial For Killing Former Police Officer

Savannah, Ga. (AP) -- Jury selection was set to begin Monday in the
trial of a Chatham County jail inmate accused of killing a former
police officer.

Joseph Williams, 30, would face the death penalty if convicted of
strangling Michael Kelly Deal in July 2001.

Prosecutors say Joseph, along with another inmate, killed Deal, 54,
because they were worried the one-time law enforcer would tell
authorities about their plan to escape. Williams and Leon McKinney
allegedly strangled Deal with a bandage, dragged him to his cell and
strung him from the ceiling with a bedsheet to make the death look
like a suicide.

Deal, a former Richmond Hill officer and one-time acting police chief
in Thunderbolt, was in jail for failing to pay child support.
McKinney is awaiting trial but is not facing the death penalty.

Williams is already serving three life sentences for murdering two
people and for an armed robbery conviction. Williams is also
suspected in the killing of an inmate at the Reidsville State Prison
in Tattnall County but he has not been charged in that case.

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